As Angela Merkel visits Athens on Tuesday, she will find a Greece in its fifth consecutive year of recession. In 2008 and 2009, the recession was a spillover from the global financial crisis. Since then it has been caused and deepened by the austerity policies imposed on Greece by the troika - of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the European Central Bank - and the Greek government.

These policies are devastating the Greek people, especially workers, pensioners, small businessmen and women, and of course young people. The Greek economy has contracted by more than 22%, workers and pensioners have lost 32% of their income, and unemployment has reached an unprecedented 24% with youth unemployment at 55%. Austerity policies have led to cuts in benefits, the deregulation of the labour market and the further deterioration of the limited welfare state that had survived a neoliberal onslaught.

The government argues that only the austerity agenda can make the Greek public debt viable again. But the opposite is true. Austerity policies prevent the economy from returning to growth. Austerity creates a vicious spiral of recession and an increase in debt that in turn leads both Greece and its lenders to calamity.

For Jérémie Louis-Sidney, France's latest home-grown terror suspect, the end came swiftly and violently.

On Saturday morning, the 33-year-old Frenchman was sitting on a couch in a Strasbourg apartment when special anti-terror police officers stormed into the premises, according to police sources.

Louis-Sidney immediately fired at them with a .357 Magnum, emptying his Smith & Wesson pistol barrel before he was shot dead by police.

Three police officers were injured - including one who was shot in the chest and another in the head. They were both protected by their helmets and body armour.

Louis-Sidney, a recent convert to Islam, was in the home of "one of his two religious wives" - a 22-year-old woman - her 6-year-old daughter and a one-month-old infant, according to Paris prosecutor François Molins.

But not much is known about the man at the heart of Saturday's nationwide anti-terror raids that resulted in Louis-Sidney's death and the arrests of 11 other terror suspects.

EU budget negotiations are famous for bringing out the worst of what's-in-it-for-me politics.

Every seven years, the EU's coffers need to be refilled. All governments contribute. The cash is then redistributed among member states who fight tooth and nail to get their due.

So far, so very EU long-term budget. But the current economic crisis means talks on the next budget (2014-2020) are tougher than usual.

There is less money to go around and richer states are feeling the pinch.

"This is going to be an extremely important budget because Europe desperately needs growth and jobs," says Danuta Huebner, head of the parliament's regional affairs committee.

"In the current reality, when the national budgets will continue to suffer cuts, it is the EU budget that can really be the catalyzer for investment and growth," she adds.

The planned mega-merger between EADS and BAE appears to have failed, but the blame game between Britain, Germany and France has only just begun. Relations between Berlin and EADS may have taken the biggest hit -- and the aerospace giant's employees might ultimately pay the highest price.

After just 30 minutes, the videoconference was over -- and the great dream seemed to have come to an end, the dream of the world's largest defense company.

Last Friday, advisers from the German, French and British governments met for a decisive meeting. The subject was the planned merger of EADS, the Franco-German aerospace company, and the British defense giant BAE Systems.

The experts quickly got to the point. Prior to the conference, they had consulted with their biggest customers on how far they could go. They had very little wiggle room in their negotiating positions.

Then the inevitable happened: The meeting broke up. And since then, bickering has dominated the proceedings, particularly relating to the question regarding who is to blame for the breakdown of the talks.

What happened between the three European countries last week is nothing short of a political-economic earthquake -- a seismic tremor that potentially puts thousands of jobs at risk. At its epicenter stands a man who was pushing for the deal more than anyone else: Thomas Enders.

Enders became the CEO of EADS in June, after having held the same position at its Airbus subsidiary since 2007. He immediately launched secret talks with Ian King, his counterpart at BAE. His self-assertiveness quickly earned him enemies within the German government.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who stood as sureties before he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London were ordered on Monday to pay £93,500 ($150,000) by next month.

Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle at Westminster Magistrates Court in London said the nine had to pay the sum to the court by November 6th.

Assange has been in Ecuador's embassy since June in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden where prosecutors want to question him on sex assault allegations.

Britain has insisted it will arrest the 41-year-old Australian if he leaves the embassy premises.

Vaughan Smith, a documentary maker and businessman who let Assange stay on bail in his country mansion for more than a year, last week addressed the court on behalf of the nine sureties, arguing why they should not lose their money.

"We don't see how justice is served by punishing us for having done our best to serve the public interest in this complex and challenging case," he told the court.

"We submit that the sureties are wholly blameless, that we have worked assiduously to help Mr Assange to meet the requirements of the court."

In his judgement, Riddle acknowledged the nine backers had acted in good faith but said they must have known the risks when they agreed to support Assange.

"I accept that they trusted Mr Assange to surrender himself as required. I accept that they followed the proceedings and made necessary arrangements to remain in contact with him," he said.

"However, they failed in their basic duty, to ensure his surrender. They must have understood the risk and the concerns of the courts.

"Both this court and the High Court assessed that there were substantial grounds to believe the defendant would abscond, and that the risk could only be met by stringent conditions including the sureties," he said.

World Economic Outlook projects only 3.6% global growth in 2013, after 3.3% this year; slowdown is driven by advanced economies, notably eurozone; eurozone projected to contract 0.75% in H2 2012, with 0% in H1 2013, and 1% in H2 2013; forecasts are premised on assumption that the eurozone gets the debt crisis under control, and the US is not going to jump into the fiscal cliff; IMF disputes eurozone's optimistic assumption about the fiscal multiplier: says multiplier is very likely larger than one; the forecast for Spain is a contraction of 1.3% in 2013, with unemployment higher than everywhere, except Greece and Serbia; while the projections are falling, forward-looking sentiment indicators seem to have bottomed out, as the latest registered a slight upturn; Olivier Blanchard said the EU must quickly adopt a banking union and an extend an ESM cover to the Spanish banking system; 7000 Greek police officers have been deployed to protect Angela Merkel, as protests await her; commentators says her visit is a high-risk gamble that could easily backfire, both in Greece and in Germany; Antonis Samaras wants to secure Merke'l continued support for Greece, and a relaxation in conditions; the eurozone approved the next aid tranche to Portugal; the Portuguese government is to present its budget October 15, which includes the non-renewal of 40,000 fixed term contracts; there were more denials of a Spanish rescue; Italy hints it will not approve financial transactions tax until Germany approves banking union; observers says the latest tactics where reminiscent of Mario Monti's gamble at the June 28/29 European Council; female employment in southern Italy has fallen back to the level of 2004 - reversing the small progress made since then; Hans-Werner Sinn has now published what must be the first Target 2 book; John McHale, meanwhile, says a policy of structural primary surpluses should normally work, even in the case of Greece, but confidence is now so low that the approach is failing.

The eurozone's new permanent fund to bail out struggling economies and banks has been formally launched at a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg.

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will have a full lending capacity of 500bn euros (£400bn; $650bn) by 2014.

It will initially run alongside, and then eventually replace, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Europe's largest economy, Germany, will make the biggest contribution to the fund, about 27% of its total.

The ESM, which is a new European Union agency, will be chaired by Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and chair of the Eurogroup.

The launch of the ESM "marks an historic milestone in shaping the future of monetary union", Mr Juncker said after the inaugural meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers that makes up the fund's board.

Countries will make their first payments towards the fund this week.

Though Spain may request a loan from the European bailout fund, the country is taking the steps necessary to turn around its economy, according to Walther von Plettenberg of the German Chambers of Commerce for Spain.

DW: How severe of an effect has the financial crisis had on Spanish-German trade relations?

Walther von Plettenberg: Spain has been suffering though a recession for four years. That had led to German exports to Spain to drop from their highpoint of 43 billion euros ($56 billion) in 2007 to 30 billion euros in 2011. Over the same period, Spanish exports to Germany have risen steadily and reached 21 billion euros last year. From a macro-economic view, this is a positive development since it leads to a balance. For Germany's export industry, it is, of course, a negative development since companies have to find other replacement markets.

Why is it so important for Spain to change its foreign trade balance?

Since the introduction of the euro - and the inexpensive credit that came with it - Spain, like other countries, has not saved enough and instead has relied on credit from other countries. Spain is not alone - countries including the United States and several other European countries, mainly on the periphery, have experienced similarly undesirable developments. That has led to a Spanish current account deficit of 106 billion euros in 2007, which is about 10 percent of the gross domestic product. Such a current account deficit will have shrunk to nothing in 2013, which means that Spain for the first time with have a neutral current account. Imports have, of course, been radically reduced as we see clearly in the case of Germany where they have fallen by 30 percent since 2007.

Traders found guilty of rigging Libor and other financial market benchmarks would face jail from next year under plans expected to be voted through parliament.

Parliament's economic affairs committee is due to back new rules on Tuesday that would bring manipulation or insider trading involving benchmarks under the EU's market abuse rules.

Confidence in Libor, the benchmark interest rate, was shaken following Barclays admission in June that it submitted false rates.

The revelations provoked renewed calls for tougher oversight of the financial system and pushed regulatory and criminal probes of interbank lending rates to the top of the political agenda.

Last month, EU commissioner Michel Barnier told MEPs that a culture of banks rigging interest-rate benchmarks shows the importance of an agreement on tougher market-abuse rules.

At the time, Barnier said that maintaining the status quo "was not an option".

EU regulators are also investigating possible breaches in cartel rules from both banks and brokers in the setting of Libor.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday's vote, parliament's draftsperson on a report into new market abuse rules said the EU "cannot be seen to be a soft option".

Germany's August manufacturing orders plunged 1.3 percent in August, which was worse than the 0.5 percent decline expected by economists.

Weakness came from within -- domestic orders plunged 3.0 percent.

Last month, a survey of German business confidence fell to its lowest level since February 2010.  "Taken at face value, this would suggest GDP growth of about zero in Q3," wrote SocGen economist Klaus Baader.

Meanwhile, Germans are beginning to freak out about inflation.

Here's a longer term look at manufacturing from Markit's Chris Williamson:

Hungary's government is facing the dire economic reality by raising its budget deficit targets for this and next year, analysts and some opposition parties said Friday. The government's earlier-than-expected abolition of the plan to impose  

a transaction levy on the central bank evoke an even wider applause and sent the Hungarian currency, the forint, higher against the euro.

Recognizing that economic growth won't be as high as expected earlier in part due to a slowing euro zone, the Hungarian government cut its expectations for this year, acknowledging a recession, and decreased the expected gross domestic output growth for next year to just 1% from the earlier 1.6%.

The revision of the growth projection--and the decision not to tax the central bank, a financial maneuver pushing part of the deficit to 2014 from 2013--revealed a gap in next year's budget. This had to be sustainably filled to help Hungary escape the Excessive Deficit Procedure, which is imposed on European Union countries that are notoriously not complying with the EU's financial canon, such as the obligation of keeping deficits below 3% of economic output.

"The package is a surprise because it's a no-surprise," Raiffeisen Bank senior economist Zoltan Torok said, noting that the set of additional fiscal measures amounting to more than 1% of Hungary's GDP includes old-school austerity measures and none of the government's "unorthodox" policies administered earlier.

Such unorthodox measures included a government decision to channel Hungarian citizens' mandatory private pension funds to state coffers, or imposing heavy `crisis' taxes on certain sectors, like banks.

IMF has just slashed its UK growth forecast again - to minus 0.4 per cent

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Monday the "worst-case scenarios" were now playing out in Syria and Turkey would do everything necessary to protect itself, as its army fired back for a sixth day after a shell from Syria flew over the border.

Gul said the violence in Turkey's southern neighbor, where a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has evolved into a civil war that threatens to draw in regional powers, could not go on indefinitely and Assad's fall was inevitable.

"The worst-case scenarios are taking place right now in Syria ... Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever is needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done," Gul said.

"There will be a change, a transition sooner or later ... It is a must for the international community to take effective action before Syria turns into a bigger wreck and further blood is shed, that is our main wish," he told reporters in Ankara.

Turkey's armed forces have bolstered their presence along the 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria in recent days and have been responding in kind to gunfire and shelling spilling across from the south, where Assad's forces have been battling rebels who control swathes of territory.

Turkey's Chief of Staff, General Necdet Ozel, travelled to the southern city of Adana to inspect the region patrolled by Turkey's 2nd Army, which protects the border with Syria, the military said on its website.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the escalation of the conflict along the Turkey-Syria border, as well as the impact of the crisis on Lebanon, were "extremely dangerous".

"The situation in Syria has dramatically worsened. It is posing serious risks to the stability of Syria's neighbors and the entire region," he told a conference in Strasbourg, France.

Ban said U.N. and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi would be heading back to the region this week.

BBC News has uncovered evidence that weapons intended for the Saudi military have been diverted to Syrian rebels.

Three crates from an arms manufacturer - addressed to Saudi Arabia - have been seen in a base being used by rebel fighters in the city of Aleppo.

How the small crates reached Aleppo is unknown, and the BBC was not allowed to film their contents. Saudi Arabia has refused to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, a big blast has been heard in a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said the attack was targeting a branch of the air force intelligence agency in Harasta.

There are no reports of casualties so far. Fighting is reported to be continuing in the area.

Amnesty International has called on Rwanda to end the "unlawful detention of civilians" and probe torture allegations, claims dismissed by Kigali.

 The London-based rights watchdog said it had gathered evidence of "unlawful detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment and enforced disappearances, mostly of civilians, at the hands of Rwanda's military intelligence".

Amnesty, in a report titled Rwanda: Shrouded in Secrecy, called on Kigali to reveal the "fate or whereabouts of all those subjected to enforced disappearance" and to investigate allegations of torture.

It alleged security services arrested suspects and held them in secret without informing their families, and had subjected them to beatings, electric shocks and made them make forced confessions.

Rwanda's justice ministry condemned the report, saying there is "ample provision for judicial review" and that any alleged reports of torture were treated seriously.

"As far as the specific allegations contained in this report are concerned, it was explained to Amnesty in June that the courts had indeed determined that some illegal detentions had taken place," a statement said.

Libyan premier Mustafa Abu Shagur was dismissed on Sunday after the General National Congress rejected his proposed "crisis" cabinet of just 10 ministers, days after his first line-up was also turned down.

The embattled Abu Shagur, who had been given 72 hours to come up with a new cabinet, was relieved of his duties after his last chance to form a government, and the GNC will have to elect a new premier within the next three to four weeks.

Before he had even put forward his second cabinet list in just four days, a motion of no confidence in Abu Shagur was signed by 126 assembly members.

That was rejected by the GNC president.

But when his pared-down list was put to the vote, 125 members of the 186 members present in the 200-seat GNC did not express "confidence" in his choices, against 44 members for and 17 abstentions, according to a live state television broadcast.

Under GNC rules, the assembly will now have to elect a new premier.

Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, is facing an official investigation and public outcry over plans to upgrade his private residence and build a nearby town, dubbed "Zumaville", at a cost of millions to taxpayers.

Anger was surging on Monday over the 238m rand (£16.62m) renovations of Zuma's rural home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal province, after it was revealed that Nelson Mandela and other former presidents' homes had received substantially less from the state. This followed controversy over proposals for a 2bn rand town, the first to be built since the end of apartheid, two miles (3.2km) from the Zuma homestead.

"Nkandlagate" could not come at a worse time with violent strikes threatening to spread from mining to other industries and focusing attention on the gap between haves and have-nots. Zuma, 70, faces a tense re-election battle within the governing African National Congress in December.

Earlier this year, Zuma said: "I have paid visits to a number of areas where you can't believe that you are in South Africa. Why should I see that, as the president of the country, not even of the ANC, and think that I could sleep peacefully when I know there are people who live in things you can't even describe as a house?"

Those words are being thrown back at him, with some observers comparing his hometown patronage to some of Africa's least democratic leaders. "He's behaving like a monarch rather than the president of the republic," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation. "It makes me think of the king of Swaziland or Jean-Bédel Bokassa [self-crowned emperor of the Central African Republic]."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged to deepen his socialist revolution after a comfortable election victory that could extend his divisive leadership of the OPEC nation to two decades.

The new six-year term clears the way for Chavez, who is recovering from cancer, to consolidate state control over Venezuela's economy, possibly with more nationalizations, and continue his support for left-wing allies in Latin America and around the world.

The victory also cements his status as a dominant figure in modern Latin American history and an icon of the political left. But the slimmer margin of victory - 10 percentage points, down from 25 points in 2006 - reflected growing frustration among Venezuelans at day-to-day problems such as rampant crime and blackouts, which Chavez will be under pressure to tackle.

Tens of thousands of ecstatic supporters celebrated in the streets around the presidential palace overnight, pumping fists in the air after the former soldier was re-elected with 1.5 million more votes than younger rival Henrique Capriles.

"Venezuela will continue along the path of democratic and Bolivarian socialism of the 21st century," Chavez, 58, thundered from the palace balcony, holding up a replica of the sword of independence hero Simon Bolivar.

It was an extraordinary victory for a leader who just a few months ago feared for his life as he struggled to recover from cancer. Turnout was a record 80 percent of registered voters, boosting Chavez's democratic credentials despite critics' depiction of him as an autocrat who tramples on private enterprise and silences political foes.

Nobel prize-winning rights advocate Leymah Gbowee has quit her post in Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government, criticizing her fellow laureate for corruption and nepotism, her spokesman said on Monday.

Gbowee and Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first freely elected female head of state when she came to power in 2005, were named joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for their work promoting peace in Liberia.

Gbowee, who helped Johnson-Sirleaf get reelected to a second term last year, is credited with helping to end Liberia's civil war by organizing 'sex strikes' among the wives of fighters.

She had been serving as head of Liberia's Peace and Reconciliation Commission.

Omecee Johnson said that Gbowee resigned over concerns Johnson-Sirleaf had failed to root out corruption and nepotism in her government, but he declined to elaborate.

"Leymah Gbowee has resigned her post as head of the Peace and Reconciliation Commission, and the government of Liberia has accepted her resignation," Johnson told Reuters by telephone.

Liberia's government confirmed Gbowee's resignation and said it disagreed with her criticisms. Johnson-Sirleaf has three sons in top government posts but she has denied charges of nepotism and has said ending graft is a top priority.

Liberia is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries and is seeking to fund its recovery by drawing investment in its rich natural resources, which include vast iron ore deposits and offshore oil.

Clergy in the fray of Akin race, seeing it as start of a `battle for the soul' of GOP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/in-missouri-clergy-in-the-fray-of-akin-race-seei ng-it-as-start-of-a-battle-for-the-soul-of-gop/2012/10/08/500ab2c4-0eff-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_story .html

Paul Broun (R-GA): Evolution, Big Bang `Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell'
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/rep-paul-broun-r-ga-evolution-big-bang-lies-straight-from- the-pit-of-hell.php

Arkansas Rep. Calls Slavery "a Blessing"
http://wreg.com/2012/10/08/arkansas-rep-calls-slavery-a-blessing/

Republican encourages death penalty for 'rebellious children'
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/08/republican-candidate-fuqua-endorses-death-p enalty-for-rebellious-children

More Evidence Ann Romney Not Wearing Mormon Garments
http://thenevadaview.com/3845/more-evidence-ann-romney-not-wearing-mormon-garments-photo/

One of Mitt Romney's top advisers acknowledged that, as a result Romney's plan to repeal Obamacare, people with pre-existing medical conditions would likely be unable to purchase insurance.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/top-romney-adviser-states-will-have-to-cover-people-with- pre-existing-conditions-under-president-rom.php

Will Republican Party repudiate cranks? Not likely. They ARE the GOP
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/06/will-republican-party-repudiate-cranks-not- likely-they-are-the-gop

Iran has diverted much of its enriched uranium to scientific research, an aspect in the International Atomic Energy Agency's lastest report that Israeli policy makers are giving greater emphasis to.

The new emphasis ostensibly justifies a delay in Israel's timetable for possible military action against Iran's nuclear program. Although the data were included in the IAEA's August report, defense sources say additional information has been received that clarifies the report's conclusions.

The report, which the Israeli intelligence community considers highly reliable, states that on a number of occasions in the recent past, Iran has allocated uranium enriched to 20 percent for another purpose: the manufacture of fuel rods for a research reactor in Tehran, where isotopes can be manufactured for cancer treatment.

Measles and rubella are "raging" throughout Europe and public fears fuelled by internet-driven campaigns and lack of funding are worsening the situation, delegates at the Gastein Health Forum were told.

"At the moment, for example, measles and rubella are once again raging in Europe," Austrian MEP Karin Kadenbach told a workshop on vaccination at the policymakers forum on Friday (5 October).

"The World Health Organization has as a result had to put back its goal of conquering these diseases by 2010 to 2015," Kadenbach said. "The reason for this is a falling vaccination rate, leading to an increase in infections."

Measles viruses could be prevented from circulating if 95% of the population were inoculated, she said. But vaccination rates fall far short in the 53 countries of the WHO European region to stamp out this extremely contagious disease. Recent studies show that between 2010 and 2011 the number of measles cases in the EU has risen by a factor of four.

The EU has launched a campaign aimed at showing how low-carbon solutions can improve quality of life.

The European Commission believes that policies to cut greenhouse gases will only work if individuals share the vision of a low-carbon society.

"It's perhaps been a bit too much doom and gloom in the past on climate," one official told the BBC at the launch in London. "We are now emphasising the need to inspire people."

The EU-wide campaign runs until 2014.

The campaign title "Worldulike" will doubtless raise eyebrows. The name is uncomfortably reminiscent of the British baked potato restaurant chain Spudulike.

The vision is being transmitted through the Commission's website world-you-like and also Facebook and Twitter.

These will create space for positive examples of tackling climate change throughout Europe, including schemes to use excess body heat from one building to warm another (Sweden); allow neighbours to use your car (UK); and generate energy from landfill (Latvia).

Hundreds of wind farms could be built on the great bog of Ireland to generate electricity exclusively for the UK's national grid under plans being considered by ministers.

Element Power, the company behind the £5 billion proposals, hopes to build more than 700 turbines and transport power through two dedicated undersea cables across the Irish sea.

Company executives met Ed Davey, the cabinet minister in charge of climate change, and civil servants to discuss the plans this summer.

The plans have been discussed among the coalition and appear in theory to appease both political parties. Liberal Democrats wish for an increase in green energy but have concerns over the high price of building wind farms offshore. Conservative ministers are worried about the backlash in some rural communities as wind turbines have become more common in Britain.

To proceed, the Irish project would need access to the subsidies currently given to UK wind power, but the difficulty for ministers in setting a precedent - which could mean any foreign energy projects can get UK subsidies - means the project face major challenges.

Mike O'Neill, the president of Element Power, said the project would solve a number of thorny problems for the British government. "Our experience is that it is easier to get planning permission in the Republic of Ireland, if you do it in a sensible and sensitive way," he said.

Recent warming in the Atlantic Ocean is the main cause of wet summers in northern Europe, according to a new study.

A cyclical pattern of rising and falling ocean temperatures is seen as a major influence on our weather.

Scientists say the current pattern will last as long as the Atlantic warming persists.

The research was carried out at the University of Reading and is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The study investigated a phenomenon known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation - a cycle of change in which the waters either warm or cool over a period of several decades.

The researchers compared three periods in this cycle: a warm state from 1931-60, a cool period from 1961-90 and the most recent warm period starting in 1990 and continuing now.

The paper notes that conditions in the last warm period in the Atlantic are broadly similar to those observed now.

...

The study was led by Professor Rowan Sutton, director of climate research at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading.

"We know that we a higher sea surface temperature in the ocean warms the air above which affects the weather systems and their path, shifting the Jetstream, but we don't yet know the full details of how this works.

"We also don't know the length of these periods of warmer or cooler conditions in the Atlantic Ocean - in the past they have varied a lot, from 20-50 years."

...

Professor Sutton said that "clearly there is a link between Atlantic warming and Arctic sea ice though the details are not well understood."

"This does not mean that Arctic sea ice is not contributing to the effect on Europe's weather but it's an open question as to how much.

"The warming of the Atlantic Ocean may be amplified by the reductions in Arctic sea ice - these things are not independent."

Abstract here.

Normalized Tornado Damage in the United States: 1950-2011

Abstract

In 2011, thunderstorms in the United States resulted in 550 deaths from tornadoes and more than $28 billion in property damage, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with the vast majority of economic losses resulting from tornadoes. This paper normalizes U.S. tornado damage from 1950 to 2011 using several methods. A normalization provides an estimate of the damage that would occur if past events occurred under a common base year's societal conditions. We normalize for changes in inflation and wealth at the national level and changes in population, income and housing units at the county level. Under several methods, there has been a sharp decline in tornado damage. This decline corresponds with a decline in the reported frequency of the most intense (and thus most damaging) tornadoes since 1950. However, quantification of trends in tornado incidence is made difficult due to discontinuities in the reporting of events over time. The normalized damage results are suggestive that some part of this decline may reflect actual changes in tornado incidence, beyond changes in reporting practices. In historical context 2011 stand out as one of the most damaging years of the past 61 and provide an indication that maximum damage levels have potential to increase should societal change lead to increasing exposure of wealth and property.

Just over 8.5 billion recyclable cans were sold in California last year. The number redeemed for a nickel under California's recycling law: 8.3 billion.

That's a return rate of nearly 100%.

That kind of success isn't just impressive, it's unbelievable. But the recycling rate for certain plastic containers was even higher: 104%.

California's generous recycling redemption program has led to rampant fraud. Crafty entrepreneurs are driving semi-trailers full of cans from Nevada or Arizona, which don't have deposit laws, across the border and transforming their cargo into truckfuls of nickels. In addition, recyclers inside the state are claiming redemptions for the same containers several times over, or for containers that never existed.

The illicit trade is draining the state's $1.1-billion recycling fund. Government officials recently estimated the fraud at $40 million a year, and an industry expert said it could exceed $200 million. It's one reason the strapped fund paid out $100 million more in expenses last year than it took in from deposits and other sources.

"The law says California has to make it easy to recycle ... so anyone with a devious mind, it's so easy, they can just go right in," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Dave Chapman, who has investigated fraud rings in recent months.

Under the state's 25-year-old recycling law, California charges consumers a deposit on most beverage containers sold within its borders. Anyone who brings empty containers back to one of about 2,300 privately run recycling centers can collect 5 cents for most cans and bottles and 10 cents for larger containers.

Congressional investigators plan to turn over to the FBI evidence of potential cyber-espionage involving Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said Monday.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said committee investigators received "numerous allegations" from U.S. companies that equipment bought from Huawei sent unauthorized data to computers in China.

"That's a serious problem," Rogers said at a news conference to release the results of an 11-month investigation into Huawei and another Chinese tech giant, ZTE. "It could be a router that turns on in the middle of the night, starts sending back large data packs, and it happens to be sent back to China."

Rogers declined to identify companies that had complained about suspicious data transfers. But he and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), the committee's ranking Democrat, recommended that the U.S. government and American firms avoid using equipment from the Chinese firms for tasks that involve large amounts of sensitive data. The two lawmakers said the firms' close ties to the Chinese government pose a threat to national security.

William Plummer, Huawei's vice president for external affairs, denied the accusations and denounced the report as "quite strong on rhetoric" and "utterly lacking in substance."

The International Cricket Council has launched an "urgent investigation" into match-fixing allegations.

India TV has alleged six umpires were willing to fix World Twenty20 games ahead of the tournament in a programme broadcast on Monday.

Cricket's governing body has called on the broadcaster to hand over evidence that could help its investigation.

It said: "None of the umpires named were involved in any of the official games of the ICC World Twenty20."

India TV has alleged the umpires - whom it says are from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh - were willing to fix matches for money during the tournament, which was won by West Indies on Sunday.

However, a seventh umpire approached during the sting operation earlier in the summer declined to get involved, the station claimed.

In a statement responding to the programme's claims the ICC said: "The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV this evening and calls on the station to turn over any information which can assist the ICC's urgent investigations into this matter.

A shift last year by the Social Security Administration to limit access to its death records amid concerns about identity theft is beginning to hamper a broad swath of research, including federal government assessments of hospital safety and financial industry efforts to spot consumer fraud.

For example, a research group that produces reports on organ-transplant survival rates is facing delays because of the extra work it must do to determine whether patients are still alive. The federal agency that runs Medicare uses the data to determine whether some transplant programs have such poor track records that they should be cut off from government financing.

"We are not going to be on time until this problem is corrected," said Dr. Bertram L. Kasiske, a Minneapolis nephrologist who directs the research group, the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. "It's a big deal. A lot of people look for these reports and depend on them."

Other medical researchers, including those conducting long-term federally financed studies of cancer and cardiovascular treatments, said the changes imposed last November were now slowing their work significantly. And a spokesman for financial industries like life insurance, banking and credit services said the arcane change was making it more difficult to detect identity thieves who steal names and Social Security numbers from the deceased.

The French village of Laguiole in the Midi-Pyrénées is famous for cheese, and for the manufacture of France's most famous knives of the same name. In the past, this has always been a matter of pride for the village's 1,200 residents. Now, they are engaged in a bitter chicken-and-egg-style legal battle over who owns the rights to the name.

The row over the Laguiole has pitted local identity against international business, tradition against trademark, and seen the Laguiolais, as they are known, tear down their village sign and march to Paris. "Our name no longer belongs to us, so what do you want us to do with this sign?" the mayor, Vincent Alazard, asked a crowd of cheering protesters.

Villagers are furious after losing a court battle to reclaim the rights to the Laguiole name from a company based in the Paris region which has registered it as a trademark. They have accused the firm of stealing their heritage and, worse, applying the village name to cheap products from China.

Inflamed by passions invoked by the idea of terroir - a profound Gallic notion of the land with its geography, geology and qualities - they want France's socialist government to introduce rules for regional products similar to the Appellation Controlée regulations that apply to French wines.

The Austrian skydiver and extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to take the leap of his life on Tuesday, when he attempts the highest, fastest free fall in history. If he survives, "Fearless Felix" could be the first skydiver to break the sound barrier. If he doesn't, a tragic fall could be live-streamed on the Internet for the world to see.

The 43-year-old former military parachutist is scheduled to jump from a balloon-hoisted capsule 23 miles (37 kilometers) above Roswell. He wants to break a record that was set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger, who jumped from an open gondola at an altitude of 19.5 miles (31km). Kittinger's speed of 614mph was just shy of breaking the sound barrier.

Baumgartner, who has been preparing for the jump for five years, has made two practice jumps in the Roswell area, from 15 miles (24km) in March and 18 miles (28.97km) in July.

While he and his team of experts recognize the worst-case scenarios - including "boiling" blood and exploding lungs - they have confidence in their solutions. NASA is watching closely, as the space agency is interested in the potential for escape systems on future rocket ships.

Baumgartner's top medical advisor is Dr Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon whose wife, Laurel Clark, died in the space-shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Clark is dedicated to improving astronauts' chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster.

Munich's famed celebration of beer, the Oktoberfest, is drawing to a close after some 6.4 million visitors downed an estimated 6.9 million liter mugs of Bavarian brew - some 14.6 million pints.

Organizers said they were satisfied with this year's event, which opened Sept. 22 and ends Sunday - although visitor numbers were lower than last year.

A newspaper said Monday that Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch man who is serving a 28-year-sentence for murdering a young Peruvian woman, has impregnated a woman while imprisoned in Lima.

The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf cited Van der Sloot's lawyer Maximo Altez as saying the pregnancy is past its third month, and Van der Sloot himself as having confirmed the news in a telephone call on Saturday.

"A test has proved" the pregnancy, the paper quoted Van der Sloot as saying.

The woman, identified by the paper only as "Leidi," was said to have become pregnant during an unsupervised visit with Van der Sloot. It was not clear whether that is allowed or possible under Peruvian prison rules.